Paul Bramley, 28, originally from Hull, was one of those killed (FCO)

The father of a British man killed in the Germanwings air crash has blamed the airline for allowing the pilot who caused the tragedy to fly.

Flight 9525 from Barcelona to Dusseldorf crashed in the French Alps on March 24 last year, killing 150 people, and a probe found evidence suggesting co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately downed the plane after locking the pilot out of the cockpit.

Philip Bramley’s son Paul, 28, died along with two other Britons – Martyn Matthews, 50, from Wolverhampton, and seven-month-old Julian Pracz-Bandres, from Manchester, who died alongside his mother, Spanish-born Marina Bandres Lopez-Belio, 37.

Mr Bramley, 60, from Hull, told the Sunday Mirror that if one of the 41 doctors who had seen him had reported their concerns, his son “would still be alive”.

He said: “But it’s my view that the airline is at fault.

“They should be more diligent about who they employ and have more safeguards to stop people slipping through the net.”

His comments come as lawyers representing the British families bereaved in the crash have urged accident investigators to make clear recommendations to improve aviation safety.

It has also emerged that Lubitz had previously been treated for depression, and among information given to the families was that he had seen 41 doctors in recent years but under German law none was able to alert his employers to his state of mind.

Investigators are due to publish their report into the crash, and t he specialist aviation law team at Irwin Mitchell, which is representing British families, said it wanted to see “important lessons learned”.

French accident investigation agency BEA is to release its final report on Sunday.

Irwin Mitchell says they hope it will feature recommendations to improve aviation safety including improved checks on the health of pilots and co-pilots, both physical and mental.

They want recommendations about guidance on access to the cockpit mid-flight.

The lawyers have also called for transparency and disclosure of medical records and details of the involvement of the US flight school where the co-pilot was trained.

Jim Morris, an expert aviation lawyer at Irwin Mitchell and former RAF pilot, who is one of the team representing the families involved, said: “The information about this tragedy has already been devastating for the families to hear.”

He said they want to know why more was not done to prevent the co-pilot from flying “when it seems clear from the evidence already available that he was a potential risk to himself and passengers”.

Mr Morris added: “It’s crucial that any reasonable recommendations made in the accident report to improve aviation safety are implemented as soon as possible.

“Nothing can turn back the clock or bring the innocent victims back but the families now want to see important lessons learned from this so that it reduces the risk of similar incidents.

“In particular the news regarding the extent of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz’s medical history and the severity of his mental health condition raises very serious questions about how he was assessed and how the fitness of commercial airline pilots should be assessed.”

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Protesters in King’s Lynn fight against mental health service cuts

Protesters took to the streets of King’s Lynn to voice their anger at what they described as “continuous” cutbacks to mental health services in west Norfolk.

Mental health cuts protest

A protest march against cuts to mental health services and the Fermoy Unit at the QEH took place in King's Lynn town centre. Picture: Matthew Usher.

More than 100 campaigners marched from The Walks through the town centre before finishing outside the Majestic Cinema.

Peter Smith, former parliamentary candidate for south-west Norfolk said: “We are in the fight of our lives here.”

The protest was triggered by the Fermoy Unit, an in-patient NHS facility in Lynn for mental health, which campaigners say faces an uncertain future. The unit was briefly closed to new admissions earlier this month, but reopened last week, albeit with fewer beds.

Mr Smith said: “In my lifetime we have never had to fight like this, but what is the alternative?”

But Debbie White, director of operations for Norfolk at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said there were now no plans to axe the Fermoy Unit.

She added: “It is right that mental health services should be valued and funded on the same level as acute health services, and it is understandable people feel passionate about the Fermoy Unit remaining open.”

Labour party activist Jo Rust insisted the issue would not disappear. She said: “They have been talking about closing it for a long time. We will fight and we will not let them do that.”

Beth Anthony, 18 of Dersingham, said: “We are here to protest against the continuous cuts to the mental health service, we think it’s unacceptable. My younger brother suffers from poor mental health and has to travel to London... That is to the detriment of my family because we have to pay for him to go down by train every single month.”